Apocalypse World: Uni City Chapter 5a

I’ve been keeping very busy this week, Story-friends. That means that the Apocalypse World posts have been a bit slower (or non-existant as the case may be). Fear not though! I’ve still been working on them when I haven’t been applying to jobs or watching the Avengers. To prove it, here is the first part of the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!

SUNSET

Sunset hobbles to the nearest chair in the lobby. Millions causally sits down across from him. Dustwich stays behind the counter.

“Heard you got into some trouble with a customer this morning,” Millions says.

“I’ve had some trouble with just about everyone today, I’m hoping you won’t join the list.”

He looks past Millions. “Dustwich. Go get Aitch. Peppering was looking for her outside.”

She looks at Millions for a half second and then goes upstairs.

Millions folds his hands on the table. “Sunset, you’re really putting me in a bind here. First my son-in-law gets killed because of your negligence and now your patrons are coming to me to complain that you’re ripping them off.”

Sunset remains silent. He wonders how this conversation would go if Millions knew about Dice beating him up in front of the market and leaving his custody.

“Tell me,” says Millions, “what would you do to one of your girls in this situation?”

Sunset looks at Millions through the top of his eyes.

“You tell me, Mister Millions, what are you going to do about the attack at Lake Claire?”

The smug smile melts from Millions’s face and he sits up in his chair.

“You didn’t know about that, did you?” Sunset says. “While you’ve been worrying about the repercussions of your son-in-law’s sex partners and the proper price of child rape a man was murdered in the Green Forest.”

“How do you know?” Millions says.

[Read a person: 7+2=hit]

“Who do you think the city went to with this news? The person who could actually help them, they went to Dice.”

Millions stands up abruptly. “You let Dice escape?”

Sunset stays in his seat and looks up at the older man. “I didn’t let her do anything.” He gestures to his blood and fresh bruises. “She doesn’t care about you or me, she cares about the city.”

Millions starts toward the door.

“You used to care about the city too,” Sunset says. Millions stops.

“Maybe it’s time for you to pass the torch? We’re old men, Millions. Dealing with these things are the problems of the young.”

Millions turns around. “You know more than anyone what I had to give up to get my throne. I’ll be dead before I give it up.”

[How could I convince your character to abdicate?]

With that he leaves Sunset alone in the lobby of the library.

Sunset closes his eyes and puts his head in his hands. There is dry blood under his fingernails. He allows himself a minute to rest before sighing and opening his eyes again. He gets up and walks down to Aitch in the infirmary.

Aitch was the only one in the city that had any kind of medical knowledge. She took after her father like that. Her twin sister, Em, took more after their mother.

When Aitch sees Sunset enter the room, she quietly walks up to him. They share a look and she nods. They should be ok. Then she walks upstairs to give him some privacy.

On one cot, October is still sleeping. Sunset walks over to the other cot and looks down at Peppering.